If You Can't Raise, Don't Call At No Time

If You Can't Raise, Don't Call At No Time
By Peter Wolff

My purpose in writing these articles is twofold; to help and to inform. There have been too many times that I have read postings on rgp that are either blatantly wrong or so ego filled that the original thoughts and meanings are long gone. So much so, that no one can remember what the original post started as.

So how is it that I will not be wrong or false? Suppose we think of me as an auto mechanic who fixes your car. When something is wrong you bring it and I tell you what is wrong and then I fix it. If the bill is too high is another story. Now suppose someone says "hey I can fix your car and I can do it better." Now it is your decision. You can go off with another way and it may be good or bad but at least you could always say about me, your mechanic, that I fixed the problem and kept you on the road. And that is all I choose to do. I will present the truth and what works. The rest is up to you.

When I thought of what I first wanted to say I immediately found the trouble that most writers of poker fall into. That is giving advice in a general way when it is specifics that will help and generalities that will hurt. Say I want to talk about starting hands and I pick Ajo. Well, how to play this hand has a lot to do with where you play and what limit. So if I talk in generalities I will steer you wrong, so I need to talk specifically about each thing I wish to tackle so that I will do no harm. Starting hands as you can see do not lend themselves easy to reach everyone. So I will slip past it and talk about how to use body language and tells to enhance your poker experience.

Watch your game before you sit down. This will make you money. Watch the motions of people in hands. Not everyone is strong when weak and vice versa. Study your opponents and it may be impossible to have a losing percentage of plays. Sometimes your opponent will start right at you when he has a monster another will look away. These are all personal traits that will not ever go away. Unless you are playing world class players, the tells you spot will last forever. Superior players sometimes give out false tells. This is also something to think about doing when the rest of your games can afford the deviation. This is something I have done. I never bet the same way twice. I will use different hands different motions. A pause here, none there. I do it even if there is no superior reader in the field because of something I have called the subconscious effect. Without realizing it people will start to read. It is something that even they cannot put their finger on that will make them call you especially when you do not want them too. Part of it is due to memory.

Even though I think the average player is terrible, I am always amazed at his memory. One day I bluffed a pot and showed my hand, a terrible mistake. About twenty-four hours later, the last guy who was still in the game, three sheets to the wind, recognized a similar move and called with a weak hand that took the pot. He got some oohs and aaaaahs but I knew where it came from when he looked at me and winked.

People remember hands and situations, and they are going to remember that little twist of the wrist you have when you fling your chips on a bluff, or the pause that screams monster hand. So mix it up, the cadence, the motion, your entire self. Once you have mastered your play then you can think about further false tells. These will make you money too.

So this is how you start. Watch the game or games that you will play in and try to detect mannerisms. Be sure. If the person seems to do the opposite things with the same tell than it is not a tell. At least not that you know of. don t guess with a tell. Get it right and you are done. The average players have many tells. You do not need to know them all. Just the big ones or the ones that you have decided are big. Watch for a while. Do it on a break from a warm up game. If you really concentrate you will start to see them. Just do not expect them to be text book. Sure a lot tells are, but each individual puts their own twist on it. Bottom line, would it not be great to have a good idea what your opponent has. It will sure enhance your chance of getting the money.

So you have watched, maybe written down a few notes. It's okay if someone notices. They will just think that you are some sort of geek or book tight player. That's fine. We want them to think about you in any way at first that may throw them off. You want to be feared, but first steps first. Just letting them know that you are watching them are sure going to put a bur under their saddle. Learning through talking is an advanced skill and not for everyone. When I used to play against Slim Preston I had to come up with a way of battling his incessant talking without giving anything away. I started wearing headphones. It's a good way of isolating yourself from a talker who may be learning a bunch about you whether they know it or not. Be aware that isolating yourself from the table is on measure bad for you in the game. For years I used to wear sunglasses and be practically mute at the table. It took me a while to realize that people do not like losing to someone they consider unfriendly or who scares them. Still it works both ways. If you want people chasing you because they want to beat you so bad, then wear the shades. When things are not going so well, try a little tenderness and talk it up.

Now sit down. Look at your watch. Check the time. Then forget about it. You are here because time is not important. You are not leaving till the game sucks or you are tired. Do not count your chips. Another poker learning lesson. I want you to stack your chips in a way that gives you no idea how much you have. Then after a couple of dealers come and go, restack them in another way and choose the architecture of your chips carefully. Tight designs usually connote tight play. Didn't you notice that in poker learning lesson one, watching the game? So watch if the designs match the player and think about yours. Do you want to give a true or false reading?

Now the game is starting to be played. You are the main character in this play. You will only lose if you allow others to take the lead from you and how easy can that be. You have watched them, and they know nothing about you except that you watch them and believe me people hate to be watched. You are the actor but not a phony like the others that you have already read. Want to stage an emotion? Then do it within the confines of the reality of the game. Want them to think that you are mad, about to go on tilt? Then wait for a draw that does not get there and slam your cards on the table muttering how you never make flushes. But remember you have done this for the reason that you want the table to think your nose is open. Everything you do has a plan. And these are the correct steps to take to make that plan effective. Know your opponents like a book and be a mystery to them. Know what they are thinking. What they will do in a certain situation. This is all money in your pocket. This is live poker, not some argument on when to reraise with pocket nines. Forget math. Make people watching your primary mission. You are playing against people who make mistakes swear, moan, cry, in short, flesh and blood humans who have weaknesses and they want to give you their money.

This is a solid truth. The recreational, the amateur, the Friday night champ all want to give you their money. Seem strange? Of course some of them do not start out that way but wait till that first losing hand. You on the other hand can never go off. If you do, stop reading now and go play keno. You will not win here. These articles are for winners or people who are losers who want to be winners. And it is hard to go from a loser to a winner. It is so much easier to say"mommy the cards were against me tonight. maybe I will be luckier tomorrow" bull shit. It is a crutch. To be a winner takes work. From people skills to other skills that I would not dream of talking about right now. This is live poker. People want to give you their money. Do you want it? Will you do what has to be done to get it?

This is the beginning that every world class player started out doing each in his own way. He wanted to win and so he figured out the skills he needed to achieve. It comes down to how much you want it.

So you watch. You are sitting. You are comfortable. You know that you are going to win. That is the mindset that you want, you have to have. You know your opponents because you have studied them till you get it right. And there are always new players so it is a work in progress. You have started thinking about reverse tells, your table image. And as far as I am concerned that is all you need know right now. You do not know about starting hands or how to play AK. You are at the beginning. Start fresh. Take a new approach. Let the simplicity of beating a game overwhelm you. I will be back in a few days with the next step in the approach to being a winning player. I have assumed that most want to be, at least on this Website. At first it was not my intention to write about the steps to being a winning player, but it is the foundation that will make more sense of future writing, writings that will be less intense and more entertaining. This is just the beginning, so maintain a beginners mind.